Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2010
A struggle for industrialization is one of the major themes of the recent history of not only Brazil, but virtually the whole of Latin America. The historical evolution of that struggle finds a common denominator in the structural similarities of the national economies of the region. Assessment of Brazil's experience in the post-1929 period should therefore yield insights into the problems that Latin America as a whole faced during the international upheaval spawned by the financial collapse of 1929. Such an appraisal may also provide empirical assistance for the elaboration of future comparative studies. The specific analytical focus of this article is the attitude of Getúlio Vargas' government toward industrialization and planning, a theme whose re-evaluation serves, furthermore, to do justice to the enigmatic and reluctant revolutionary who governed Brazil during critical years and depression and war.
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59 Executive director, CFCE, circular, November 16, 1936, file 426-vol. 2, cont. 26, CFCE.
60 The documents relating to the survey are in Ibid.
61 Vargas, Nova Política, V, 219.
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85 Simonsen to Vargas, October 25, 1943, file 35.902, cont. 170, PR; Primeiro congresso brasileiro de economia, Anais, I, 64.
86 Lodi to Simonsen, January 1945 (English translation), SD 832.00/3–1645.
87 U.S. consul (São Paulo) to State Dept., March 16, 1945, Ibid.; U.S. embassy (Rio) to State Dept., March 17, 1945, SD 832.00/3–1745.
88 Cf. Dean, Industrialization of Sao Paulo, p. 233.